| | | An INDIE x INDIE Poetry Book Club . . . | For over a decade, The Rumpus’ team has handpicked new poetry titles that we’re excited about to feature in our monthly Poetry Book Club. For our September 2023 - August 2024 selections (and possibly beyond!), we’ll focus on great new poetry collections AND hear from the indie publishers behind the books.
Our upcoming Poetry Book Club subscriber-only conversations will feature the Author + the Author’s Editor/Publisher + a Rumpus Editor offering insights into how the book came together, the writer’s inspirations and roadblocks, and a better understanding of how the collection connects with the Publisher’s list and mission.
The Rumpus supports risk-takers and a lot of that WORK is led by indie (often nonprofit) publishers. We want to better highlight their contributions to the literary community.
By joining the Poetry Book Club, you’re supporting the work of living poets, indie publishers, and The Rumpus!
Sign up by Aug. 15 to start with our September pick and join the Sept. conversation with Sally Wen Mao discussing her forthcoming book The Kingdom of Surfaces with and Graywolf Director of Poety, Jeff Shotts, moderated by a member of the Rumpus poetry team. | | | Our first 4 titles & indie presses are: | | | | The Kingdom of Surfaces
by Sally Wen Mao
in conversation with Graywolf Press Executive Editor and Director of Poetry, Jeff Shotts + Rumpus Editor
In The Kingdom of Surfaces, award-winning poet Sally Wen Mao examines art and history—especially the provenance of objects such as porcelain, silk, and pearls—to frame an important conversation on beauty, empire, commodification, and violence.
Graywolf Press is a leading nonprofit publisher committed to the discovery and energetic publication of twenty-first century American and international literature. In recent years, Graywolf books have won numerous national and international awards—including the Booker and Booker International Prizes, the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Founded in 1974, the press is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. |
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| | | Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction & Deliverance edited by Kaveh Akbar and Paige Lewis in conversation with Sarabande Books Executive Director & Editor-in-Chief, Kristen Renee Miller + Rumpus Editor
A poetry anthology on the lived experiences of addiction. Editors Kaveh Akbar and Paige Lewis offer this companion volume for a new generation. Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction & Deliverance showcases work from poets like Joy Harjo, Afaa M. Weaver, Diane Seuss, Layli Long Soldier, Sharon Olds, Jericho Brown, Ada Limón, and Ocean Vuong, as well as many new and powerful voices.
Sarabande Books is an award-winning, nonprofit literary press founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1994 to champion poetry, fiction, and essay. Sarabande's catalog includes nearly 300 titles to date, and such notable authors as Sandra Cisneros, James Tate, Mary Ruefle, Frank Bidart, Lydia Davis, and Robert Pinsky. Sarabande authors have been recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Jewish Book Award, Lambda Literary awards, the Story Prize Spotlight Award, and many PEN/American honors. |
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| | | | Orders of Service
by Willie Lee Kinard III in conversation with Alice James Books Editor and Rumpus Editor
As a young, Black, queer person in a small town in the South where everyone knows everyone, Orders of Service is a coming-of-age exploration of the everyday fever of fleeting relationships, while capturing the romantic, psychic quotidian of the Bible Belt.
Founded as a feminist press, Alice James Books is committed to collaborating with literary artists of excellence whose voices have been historically marginalized by producing, promoting, and distributing their work which often engages the public on important social issues.
Alice James provides a platform from which to elevate exceptional literary artists and is dedicated to helping its writers achieve purposeful engagement with broad audiences and communities nationwide. We help writers tell their stories and connect with readers. We envision this work making continued contributions that sustain American literary and artistic culture and to growing a more understanding, equitable, and just community through literature.
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| | | | Auction by Quan Barry
in conversation with University of Pittsburgh Press / Pitt Poetry Series Editor and Rumpus Editor
In Auction, her first poetry collection in eight years, the poet, novelist, and playwright Quan Barry travels the globe in her signature quest into the existential nature of experience. These poems explore the inner landscapes of both the human and animal realms, revealing them to be points along the same spectrum.
At the heart of the book lies an extended study of toxic storytelling as an element of warcraft, but Barry also contemplates the death of a Buddhist master, the plight of migrants both at home and abroad, the ethics of travel and consumption, and the larger question of how and why we construct a self in order to navigate the world.
The University of Pittsburgh Press’s Pitt Poetry Series represents many of the finest poets active today, as reflected in the many prestigious awards their work has garnered over the past four decades. In addition, the Press is home to the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, the Donald Hall Prize for Poetry, and, in rotation with other university presses, the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. We also sponsor the prestigious Drue Heinz Literature Prize, which recognizes the finest collective works of short fiction available in an international competition. |
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| | | How does the Poetry Book Club work? | Around the 1st of every month, we’ll mail you a book along with information (with links and your private passcode) to join the subscriber-only Author + the Author’s Editor/Publisher + a Rumpus Editor’s conversation via Crowdcast. We’ll also send this information via email, plus a reminder as the date approaches. These events usually take place on the last week of every month, unless there’s overlap with a major holiday.
Current subscribers can participate by asking questions, interacting with fellow readers, and commenting via chat BEFORE and DURING the monthly event. The author and editors will do their best to answer all of the questions during the conversations. Please note: these events usually last ~ 1 hour.
Missed the live conversation? Your passcode will work for a month after the event, so you can watch (or re-watch) later.
Subscribe (or continue!) by the 15th of each month to receive the NEXT month’s book. Example: the last day to subscribe for the September book pick is Aug 15th, so we can purchase the correct # of books each month, receive them in NC, and mail them to subscribers in time. We order directly from the publisher, which is the best way to support both the author and publisher. | | | | |
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